A Normal Week

I've had a lot of really amazing opportunities in the past days, I went to Swan Lake, attended the circus, celebrated another birthday, went to a BBQ at a remote Dacha (small family cabin) and visited the US Consulate. I really enjoyed the experiences, they were incredible, but what I really want to write about is a normal week.

While there is no such thing as "normal" here for me, I've settled into a routine more or less. I feel much more comfortable in my surroundings, and it has allowed me to relax and observe. I've worked out most of the kinks, like learning how to use the ATM, paying fees for school and my visa, buying necessities such as contact solution and warm clothes etc. so I don't have things that I have to do, just things that I would like to do. It's glorious.

A regular day starts with my alarm going off at 7:00 am. Breakfast varies from a cup of tea to oatmeal to cookies. Whatever I can find or feel like making basically. I put on a sweater, a scarf and the heaviest jacket I have. I squeeze my feet into two pairs of socks and my boots. Locking the door behind me I ride the old, jerky lift down all nine floors, and turning up my iPod head for the bus stop. I have to be at the bus stop by 7:30 to get to school by 8:30. (But school doesn't always start at 8:30, in any case, it takes about an hour to get to the school).

School is the bulk of my day, with two to four classes. On a good day I'm out of school by noon, and didn't have math or English. I usually have the afternoon to myself, unless my host family tells me otherwise. My host sister Anna gets home around 3:00, and my host parents seem to have no schedule whatsoever, sometimes getting home at noon, and other times not coming home at all. All of us living in the apartment have very different schedules, but we all try to be home for dinner by seven or eight.

To occupy my afternoons I usually spend time with my Australian friend Maddy. I ask the kids at school what they do in the afternoons and a lot of them simply go home. A few of them have music lessons, or dance classes, and a surprising amount of them have tutors, and they spend most of their afternoons at extra classes. Maddy loves Cinnabon and the Cinnabon in the center has become a favorite of ours. I enjoy sitting in the center square, and watching the people. It's a popular tourist spot, and it's fun to watch everyone come and go. Maddy and I walk all over, or find somewhere to just sit and talk. Sometimes we go to Maddy's house and watch her very strange collection of films and drink tea. Or we go to my house, watch Monty Python and drink tea.

On the days I'm not with Maddy, I sometimes walk downtown and sit on my favorite bench in the square, or walk in the park near the school. They have really cool waterfront walks. I like watching the city. While the weather was nicer I went to the botanical gardens a few times.

Of course, sometimes I just go home. I get on the bus and ride it (only forty minutes) to my street. I have a nice little walk through a children's park, between some apartment buildings, up some stairs and along a narrow street to my building. Sometimes someone will be home, and we'll eat and watch some television in the kitchen. I enjoy watching television, it's fun to see shows and movies I'm familiar with in Russian. At home I relax, and it's wonderful. I can play their piano, read, study Russian, watch a movie with Anna, go for a walk, sleep... It's good to be at the apartment, I feel at home there.

So that's a normal day, and that makes up my week. I enjoy the flexibility of my schedule, it leaves room for the last minute things that often pop up. I enjoy it even more now because it feels normal. I feel like part of the family, I feel like part of the school. I don't feel like I'm part of the culture yet, but it's becoming more familiar. Every day it feel more and more blessed to be living here.